A Journey to Katmandu eBook

Having finished our inspection, and the pay of an
unsuccessful mahout or two having been stopped, Jung
entered into a long disquisition upon the subject
of the wild sports of the Terai. He told us,
amongst other things, that he had forbidden all deer-shooting
here, although the revenue to Government upon the
skins amounted to 400 or 500 pounds a year, in order
that he might enjoy better shooting. Of course,
we praised the love of sport which could prompt such
an order, and said nothing of the love of country
which might perhaps have prevented it. I was
often struck by the despotic tone which the prime minister
assumed, and it only confirmed my previous opinion
as to his substantially possessing the sovereign power.

We killed five or six more deer and pigs before quitting
Bisoleah on the following day, our road to Bechiacor
leading us through the great forest, at this season
perfectly healthy. We found our camp pitched
in the broad dry bed of a mountain torrent, which
I observed to be filled with fragments of granite
and micaceous schist.

As the shades of evening closed in upon the valley,
the scene became extremely interesting: high
upon the hill sides,—­for we had reached
the base of the Cheriagotty hills,—­groups
of natives, crouching round their fires, were sheltered
only by grass huts, the labour of an hour. While
lights twinkled in the minister’s camp, soldiers
were gathered round their watch-fires, and the villagers
were assembled near a huge crackling blaze to witness
so unusual, and to them so exciting a scene, as 5000
souls encamped in their solitary valley.

CHAPTER V.

March to Hetowra—­Cross the Cheriagotty
Hills—­Scenes of the war of 1815- 16—­Preparations
for a wild-elephant hunt—­The herd in full
cry—­A breakneck country—­Furious
charges of wild elephants—­The lost child—­Return
to camp.

Early on the following morning we were on the march,
and for five miles did our clumsy elephant trip it
heavily over the large stones forming the bed of the
stream in which we had been encamped the previous night.
I fear the beauty of the scenery did not so well
compensate him for the badness of the road as his
more fortunate riders. To see a hill at a distance
after having travelled so long over a dead level was
refreshing; but when we began to wind round the base
of precipitous cliffs, or clamber up some romantic
mountain pass, the effect was most animating.

The cliffs which now frowned over us were about 500
feet in height; a few larches crowning the summit
indicated the elevation of the country, and almost
reminded us of home, until some monkeys swinging about
amongst the branches at once dispelled the illusion.

The hills themselves consist entirely of clay mixed
with sandstone, mica, and gravel; and the effect of
the mountain torrents during the rainy season upon
such soft material had been to form precipitous gullies,
along which we were now passing, while the grotesque
pinnacles which constantly met the eye reminded us
of the dolomite formation of the Tyrol. In many
places were strata, sometimes horizontal, but more
frequently inclined at an angle of about forty-five
degrees, consisting of limestone, hornstone, and conglomerate.